Firestone Hot Springs hotdog

Kaihra had never seen the need to explore. Packless, she had journeyed day and night through unfamiliar lands, but in that case wandering had been a necessity. She hadn't put a paw beyond the border since arriving on the Blacktail Deer Plateau, despite watching her packmates come and go every day.

At first she'd seen no need to leave. Her months of wandering had left her longing for a place to call home and, when she'd first laid her eyes on this land, she'd joined the Plateau in haste. Over the past few suns, however, the foolishness in her decision had been brought to light, and Kaihra became painfully aware of how little she knew of these lands, and how little she'd known of this pack before swearing her allegiance to them.

These thoughts plagued her as she patrolled the borders that day, watching another of her packmates bound past the borders to the flatlands below. Kaihra stood in a moment of uncertainty, but after a moment's hesitation, crawled toward the gentle slope that led to the flatlands below as she resisted the urge to stay. She follow her packmate's scent with a careful pace and picked her way through the flatlands with every sense alert, careful to keep her body low as she followed from a distance.

Now the air grew heavy around her, and Kaihra slowed as a growing discomfort prickled through her fur. She spotted her packmate and hung back, watching as the dark girl sniffed around a patchwork of steaming pools. Kaihra didn't dare walk closer. The air felt muggy, even for a summer's day, and plastered her fur with a layer of moisture Kaihra couldn't shake. Steam rose all around and gave the area an unnatural haze. What is this place? A prickle of anxiety crawled through her fur as she watched her packmate carefully. Though she questioned her decision to follow her here, Kaihra stubbornly resisted the urge to turn and run.